Christmas Night
by MondaysAreBoring
Summary: Just like every year, Darkrai would return to Alamos Town on Christmas to ensure nothing would happen to the town. This time, however, someone special went to the town together with him and feelings would unreavel.


The faint moonlight shone brightly in the night sky, as snow fell gently onto the ground. Alamos Town was glowing brightly, as lights filled every street and corner of the small town. The citizens of the town were at the town square, gathering in front of the Space-Time Tower. A choir group can be seen standing beside the entrance of the tower, singing one Christmas carol after another. People can be seen exchanging presents and chatting happily, telling the others about interesting things that happened to them in that year. If you were sitting on a roof observing the scene below you, which was what Darkrai had been doing for the past thirty minutes, feeling joyous and peaceful would be what you'll experience, just like what the Pokemon had been experiencing.

"Aren't you going down to celebrate with the humans?" Darkrai spun his head and stared at the Pokemon talking to him. "Especially Alice."

The Nightmare Pokemon looked away from his counterpart and returned his focus to the crowd.

"Not really. I'm just here to check on the town. I don't want that to happen again." He replied coldly.

"Was it the fight between Dialga and Palkia?" Cresselia asked.

Darkrai nodded solemnly, and after looking at the scene below him one last time, Darkrai moved away and glided past Cresselia.

Cresselia sighed, then tailed Darkrai, keeping a distance between him and her. After some time, the two Pokemon arrived at Carnalave City. Being one of the port cities of Sinnoh, the city was much brighter and lively compared to Alamos. There is also a large tree standing beside the library, where people can be seen gathering under it. Darkrai paused abruptly at the top of the library, causing Cresselia to bump into him.

"Why did you stopped all of a sudden?" The Lunar Pokemon asked, only to be greeted by silence. She glanced at Darkrai, then towards the sea. The sea glistened under the moonlight, and once in a while Mantyke and Remoraid can be seen splashing out of the surface.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, startling Cresselia.

She looked at him, who was staring at the sea in contentment. _'He looks… tired,'_ She thought to herself. The longer she stared at him, Cresselia's face started getting warmer, which she noticed and shifted away from her counterpart. She managed to take a glimpse of a couple sitting on a bench behind the library, facing the sea. They were sitting beside each other, both enjoying the scenery while cuddling close to warm themselves up from the coldness of the air.

"I'm going back to my island. I think you would want to stay and do your job of giving the humans pleasant dreams." Darkrai spoke. Cresselia snapped from her trance and turned towards her side, only seeing it empty.

 _'Huh… what's with him today? That is so unlike him. He never seemed tired before. Also, what was that blush for?'_ She sighed and shifted her attention back to the couple on the bench, as thoughts started forming at the back of her mind.

As the morning sun approached the horizon, Cresselia started hovering across the ocean towards her island, Fullmoon Island. When she's about to reach the said place, she couldn't help but notice the neighboring island. There was a silhouette of a large dragon, somehow resembling Giratina, at the edge of the island, heading into the forest. Out of curiosity, she headed towards Newmoon Island.

 **Meanwhile on Newmoon Island**

"What does Darkrai want, telling me to meet him on his island at this time. Not to mention his place is in the middle of nowhere." Giratina growled as he passed one tree after another until he reached the cave entrance. "Guess I should just go in." He shrugged, then entered the cave.

When Giratina reached the inner part of the cave, he saw Darkrai lying on a pile of dried grass, fatigue was written all over him.

"Dude, you got issues or something?" Darkrai shifted his head upwards, locking eyes with Giratina.

"Yes. A really big one." The Pokemon pushed himself upwards, which allowed him to levitate above his so-called bed. "I am having nightmares."

Giratina smirked at Darkrai, then drift beside him and placed one of his wings over him.

"The Nightmare Pokemon having nightmares, this is interesting," Giratina smirked. "Mind telling me the details of it?"

"That's not why I wanted you to come here. I want you to help me get rid of my nightmare." Darkrai sighed.

"Shouldn't you ask Cresselia for help? I mean, curing nightmares is her forte." Giratina asked, confused at his friend.

"I don't want to bother her. Also, she probably thinks that it's normal for me to have nightmares anyway so she couldn't be bothered anyway. Therefore, are you going to help me or not?" Darkrai retorted. Giratina swore he could see hints of red on Darkrai's face, but he just pushed the thought away.

Giratina shifted away from Darkrai and stood in front of him, shook his head and removed his wing from his friend.

"I can't help you with that. I am the ruler of the Distortion World, not a healer. I destroy, not fix. That would be Arceus's job." He then spun around, then hover towards the cave entrance. "I suggest you still go look for Cresselia. It would be the easiest for you nevertheless."

Once Giratina came out of the cave, he let out a breath and looked into the forest.

"You have heard everything. You know what to do." He muttered, then flapped his wings and took off. After the Lord of the Distortion World left, the Lunar Pokemon emerged from her hiding spot, thanking him silently before leaving for her island to rest up.

That evening, Cresselia returned to Newmoon Island. She hovered slowly towards the cave entrance and was just about to enter the cave when she heard Darkrai shouted.

"Who is there? Get away from the Island!" Cresselia gulped, then pushed herself forward, deeper into the cave.

When she arrived at Darkrai's chamber, Darkrai was floating in the middle of the room, glaring at the intruder. When he realized it was Cresselia, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's just you. Why are you here?" He asked. Cresselia moved towards him and lifted his hands, placing a Lunar Wing on them.

"This is for you, as a present from me." She then put her other hand on the feather and clasped his hands, looking into Darkrai's eyes as she muttered, staring into the light blue eyes of her counterpart.

 _'Is this how you really think about me? Being uncaring and such towards you.'_ She then snapped back to reality when she heard water dripping from the ceiling. She removed her hands from Darkrai and left the room, leaving the confused Pokemon alone in the cave.

After Darkrai came back to his senses, he looked down onto his hands, where a Lunar Wing was resting on them. He then stared at the entrance and was surprised by how dark it had gotten.

 _'I'm sorry,_ _Cresselia.'_ Darkrai then fell to his bed, closed his eyes and held on tight to the feather. _'I shouldn't think so lowly of you.'_

It has been a year since they've last met. This year, Darkrai visited Alamos Town once more, but this time he went to the park instead of observing from the Space-Time Tower. Ever since the encounter with Alice's grandmother, Darkrai grew fond of that garden and will go there once in a while. He enjoyed being in the garden, seeing many Pokemon playing and living together.

Darkrai floated down a walkway until he reached a platform, where the lake was below it. Pokemon can be seen chasing each other above the frozen surface of the lake. Just as he started to leave, he heard someone shouted his name.

"Darkai! I didn't expect to see you here!" He spun around and saw Alice running towards him, with Tonio following behind her.

"Alice… wait for me…" Tonio panted, trying to catch up with Alice.

Tonio used Alice's shoulder as a support when he caught up and catching his breath. Darkrai noticed that Tonio and Alice both had a ring on their finger. He pointed to the ring on Alice, which made her giggle in delight.

"Ah, you didn't know huh? We are married to each other now. Tonio proposed to me last year this time, here at this very spot." Alice glanced at Tonio. The man smiled sheepishly, then placed his arm on her back.

"After that, we made a promise to each other, that we have to come here every year." The couple looked and grinned at each other.

Darkrai witnessed the show of affection by both Alice and Tonio to each other as they told him about their year. He noticed that, despite being alone for most of the time, he felt empty instead of contented. There is a small part of him that wanted some affection, just like the couple. After a while, Alice and Tonio bid goodbye to Darkrai as they had to return to the Space-Time Tower. He stared at the couple, then left to Carnalave City.

Upon reaching Carnalave City, Darkrai saw Cresselia on the library from afar. He felt tensed as he was going towards her.

"Hello." Cresselia turned her head to her side and saw her counterpart standing beside her. (Yes, Darkrai has legs. I know, weird.)

"Hello, Darkrai." The two Pokemon stayed silent for a while, staring into the sea. "It's been a year since we last met."

Darkrai sighed, then took a glimpse at Cresselia.

"I missed you."

Cresselia looked at Darkrai, then back to the sea. The Nightmare Pokemon exhaled and returned his gaze to the sea.

"This year without your presence made me realize how much I hated being alone."

Cresselia stared at Darkrai and frowned.

"Then why did you say that I probably didn't care about you when Giratina visited you?" Darkrai felt as if a Hyper Beam had hit him. He dropped his head and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I assumed that you're like the others, who didn't care much about their counterparts." Darkrai tilted his head upwards and let out a breath. "Just like what I see in my nightmares."

"You know that I care for everyone, regardless of their species or my relationship with them," Cresselia shouted and glared at Darkrai.

"And I thought you knew me well enough, but apparently not…"

"I…" That was all Darkrai could mutter before Cresselia took off, heading towards her island.

 _'I can't believe I fell in love with that idiot.'_

"Cresselia, are you here?" Darkrai shouted. He didn't get any response and went into the cave. Once he reached a small clearing, he saw Cresselia's head tilted up to the sky with her eyes closed.

"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed at the intruder's presence.

"I just want to give you… this." Darkrai pulled out a small box, secured with ribbons. Cresselia lifted the box with Psychic and brought the box to her. She then used her powers to open up the box, which revealed a Garcidea.

"I figured that since I didn't get any present for you last year, I'll give one to you this year. When I was wondering what I should give you, I remembered that the Garcidea represents gratitude, which is what I am, gratitude towards you for helping me."

"Thank you…" Cresselia responded as she faced her counterpart. "You mentioned that your nightmare had me in it. What was it about?"

Darkrai took a deep breath, turning away from Cresselia.

"You were very mean towards me. You would complain about being my counterpart, always needing to fix the nightmare I inflicted. Whenever I tried to talk to you, you push me away and spat at me, saying you will never talk to someone who constantly is the living embodiment of despair. You even attacked me over and over again, but I never retaliate."

"Why is this a nightmare for you?" Cresselia asked. She moved closer to Darkrai until she's facing with him.

"I'm afraid that you will become like how I dreamt." His breath started to quicken. "I don't want you to hate me."

"Why?" Darkrai looked at Cresselia, her face showing sympathy. "Why don't you want me to hate you?"

"Because…" His face started showing shades of red under his dark skin. "Because… I love you. I don't want the person who I love to hate me, to not associate with me. I know I give out nightmares, but it's not because I want it's because…"

"You just do." Cresselia cut off Darkrai before he could finish his sentence. "I know that, and I understand. We are the Lunar Duo. We give out dreams, and there must be a balance. I give out sweet, pleasant dreams, while you give out nightmares. It's just part of us."

"Yes…" Darkrai lowered his head in embarrassment. Just then, he noticed water dripping down from Cresselia. He glanced at the Pokemon and saw tears flowing from her eyes. Even though she was crying, she was smiling.

"You idiot…" She scoffed. "Do you know how much it hurts when I hear you say those untruthful things about me? I thought you hated me, hated my accompany. I don't want you to hate me either, and you know why."

Darkrai placed his hands on her face, wiping off the tears as Cresselia continued to cry. He smiled as he felt warmth in his heart, and replied.

"I know."


End file.
